Heights: First Saturday to cover much ground

HOME IN THE HEIGHTSMay event to feature art, cars and butterflies

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, May 5, 2005

The May edition of Heights First Saturday gets under way this week with a decidedly classic, and sometimes delicate, feel
to it.

Chippendale Eastlake Antiques will host the Weekend in the Heights Car Show, featuring the restored vehicles of the Classic Chassis Car Club from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the shop, 250 West 19th St., at the corner of Rutland. Along with the vehicles, free hot dogs will be served from noon-2 p.m.

And if the Classic Chassis event shows off a Model A on the gamut of things offered Saturday, Buchanan's Native Plants will have the Z covered — "Z" as in zebra-wing, that is.

And for everything in between, First Saturday will have more than its share of area artists showing their wares around the neighborhood.

The Yale Street Art Market marked its first anniversary last month and once again anchors the northern end of the First Saturday Art Crawl.

Mitch and Carolyn Cohn's monthly art bazaar can be found behind Kaplan's Ben-Hur at 210 West 21st. They will host a blood drive from 2-5 p.m.

The work of artist Tim Vanya will be on display at the brand new Squash Blossom Shop at Yale St. Grill, 2100 Yale. And Wind Water Asian Arts Gallery, 540 West 19th, will show a watercolor series based on the theme of the Year of the Rooster from artist Charlie Startwelle.

And tulips and tutus, 238 West 19th, will show off Dalzenia Sams' art car, the Mural on Wheels, while conducting its spring raffle. The grand prize is a new iPod.

On the south side of the neighborhood, Hickory Hollow Restaurant, 101 Heights Blvd., will host artist Ron Collins, while Indian Summer Lodge, 605 Columbia at White Oak, will have a party featuring 1980s dance band Lost Boys, while holding its own art market featuring the works of Mike Quinn.

Survey results

Neighborhood residents overwhelmingly favored adding a Starbucks to the new Sawyer Heights development in a survey conducted by the
Woodland Heights Civic Association
last month.

Starbucks received 53 votes in the informal online survey, which polled residents on what they would most like to see in the new development, anchored by Target, scheduled to be built on the south side of Interstate 10 at Sawyer later this year.

Second on the list, garnering 42 votes, was Whole Foods Market, followed by an H-E-B Central Market with 27 votes. H-E-B Grocery alone came in with 29, though there was probably some cross-pollination there. Barnes and Noble's bookstore had 23 votes.

The group is still conducting the survey, which as of last week had netted 244 suggestions, ranging from White Castle Hamburgers (which would make it the only one in the Houston area) and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream to a movie theatre and Victoria's Secret store.

Open house

NiaMoves, 3221 Houston Ave., will host an open house Saturday in honor of Women's Health Month and Mother's Day.

NiaMoves is offering free Nia classes that day. Nia, which stands for Neuromuscular Integrative Action, is a fusion fitness program that combines the martial, dance and healing arts for a blend of aerobic movement.

Saturday's events will get under way at 8 a.m. with an introduction to Nia. Classes will follow from 8:20-9:20 a.m. and 9:30-10:30 a.m. Another short intro will be held from 10:30-10:45 a.m.